From Cheetos to Lunges

When we moved to our new neighborhood, it was not long until I heard of the women who belonged to a group called Stroller Strides. It was not long after that when I saw these formidable ladies in action.

One day as I sat at my dining room table and looked out into the park I noticed a few women in a group pushing their strollers. And then they kept coming. One after another as far as the eye could see there were women pushing strollers with children ranging from newborn to around 4 years old. Its freezing outside, I thought to myself. And what time is it. 9am, hmm. And then the craziest thing happened. They started doing lunges. Now they had my undivided attention. What in the world are they doing? Not just one or two lunges mind you. At least a minute or two worth of lunges. There seemed to be a rather spry one in the front with a whistle? Oh gosh does she really have a whistle? (snicker snicker) They began running. You have to be kidding me. I stepped out onto my porch to take it all in. Not long after that they stopped along a group of park benches and began singing to their little ones as they did a round of crunches. Next came a delightful run of suicides. Grape vines, push ups, squats, etc.. They kept on like this until they were out of sight. I slumped down onto my couch, ate a bag of Cheetos, and laughed for a good long while. I.....would never stoop to this madness. They looked so silly. It would take a lot to get me to run around like a crazy lady behind my stroller. And if I did, how hard could it actually be?

A little while later a friend and I were on a walk. We decided we would go about three days a week. She couldn't make it the first two days but on day three off we went. About 20 minutes into our leisurely walk we came upon the Stroller Stride brigade. We laughed, poked fun and eventually settled in behind them about 50 yards back. We began mimicking each of their moves. Lunges, high knees, the works. Then they parked their strollers and sprinted up to the top of a hill and began doing push ups while looking down at the strollers below. Who are these women? I was not sure but I did know one thing. I could barely breath trying to keep up with them and I wanted more than anything to get in line and join in.

Monday was my first day and today was my third. The membership fee is $55 a month and the classes are 5 days a week and begin at 9am. These ladies are hard core and I love it. Day one as we all sang our ABC's while doing some horrific exercise that I have repressed, all the moms belted out the song to the delight of their children. All but me. As Adalyn stared at her crazy momma all she got was about every third letter. All of my other effort was going towards breathing and not passing out. When I found myself for the third day in a row at the back of the line, behind even the two prego women I realized I was in the right place. Love it, Love it, Love it. All the moms gather together at the end and talk and the children run off to the park, swings, sand box or fountains.

You can check out the website below. I would recommend this to anyone interested. They even have classes on Saturdays. www.strollerstrides.com